Science and Technology Studies Commons^™

Best Instructional Practices For Distance Education: A Meta-Analysis, Robin Michael Roberts

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Recent meta-analyses on the efficacy of distance education have concluded that no significant difference exists between face-to-face and distance education. At the same time, these meta-analyses noted that considerable heterogeneity existed between the individual studies used in the meta-analyses. Investigation of moderators responsible for that heterogeneity suggested that four things other than media delivery were primarily responsible for the majority of variation between study outcomes: methodological quality, instructor involvement, type of interaction, instructional methods and time-on-task. A comparative meta-analysis was performed to further investigate these moderators. Methodological quality, maturational differences in students and any undetermined media effects were controlled for …

Evaluating And Implementing Web Scale Discovery Services: Part Two, Jason Vaughan, Tamera Hanken

Library Faculty Presentations

Part Four: Quick Tour of the Current Marketplace:

• "The Big 5"
• Similarities and differences

Part Five: It's Not All Sliced Bread:

• Shortcomings of web scale discovery

Part Six: Implementation (pre launch steps):

• Selecting and preparing implementation staff
• Preparing and communicating process/decisions with all staff
• Working with the vendor (roles, expectations, timeline)
• Workflow changes and implications (technical services)

Part Seven: Specific implementation tasks, issues, and considerations:

• Record loading and mapping (catalog content)
• Harvesting and mapping digital/local content
• Working with central index data (internal & external content)
• Web integration and customization
• Assessment and continuous improvement

Evaluating And Implementing Web Scale Discovery Services: Part One, Jason Vaughan, Tamera Hanken

Library Faculty Presentations

Preface: Before Web Scale Discovery

• A very brief overview

Part 1: What is Web Scale Discovery

• Content
• Technology

Part 2: Why is Web Scale Discovery important?

• What’s the need?
• How is it different from earlier attempts at broad discovery?

Part 3: A Framework for Evaluating Web Scale Discovery Services

• What we did at UNLV
• Other options

Management And Support Of Shared Integrated Library Systems, Jason Vaughan, Kristen Costello

Library Faculty Research

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) University Libraries has hosted and managed a shared integrated library system (ILS) since 1989. The system and the number of partner libraries sharing the system has grown significantly over the past two decades. Spurred by the level of involvement and support contributed by the host institution, the authors administered a comprehensive survey to current Innovative Interfaces libraries. Research findings are combined with a description of UNLV’s local practices to provide substantial insights into shared funding, support, and management activities associated with shared systems.

Cyberbullying In Schools: A Research Study On School Policies And Procedures, Brian Wiseman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A mixed-methods research design first using quantitative then qualitative data was used in order to explore what cyberbullying policies are being employed by principals in the state of Nevada. Electronic surveys were given to all 118 middle school principals in Nevada. Middle school was chosen because it is the age where cyberbullying behaviors are most prevalent. Out of the 118 surveys that were deployed, 66 principals responded. A series of independent t-tests and a chi-squared analysis was conducted using the survey data. The survey concluded by asking principals if they were willing to participate in a one-on-one interview regarding the …

Second Life Virtual Universities: A Visual Analysis, Zeenath Haniff

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

General academic objectives include producing an educational experience that is engaging, interactive, collaborative, experiential and productive. The goal is to promote learner engagement through the visual power of a newly adopted medium in education – universities in the multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) of Second Life. Attributes of the virtual reality aid visual learning in the online environment: (1) computer-generated content, (2) three-dimensional graphics, and (3) interactivity. Visual renditions of campus buildings and fellow students as avatars emotionally connect students to feel a sense of presence and community within the virtual learning platform. Additionally, the ability to see and hear their …

Adaptation Of The Nevada Climate Change Data Portal Web Interface To Small-Screen Mobile Devices, Tsvetan Komarov

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

Robust and convenient access to the Nevada Climate Change Data Portal is vital for the project’s success, because of the researchers’ need to gather and analyze large volumes of data with minimal effort. However, the current version of the data portal web interface is not optimized for small-screen mobile devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, iPads, NetBooks, and others. The proposed research will address this issue by exploring the current methods for creating a client-aware web interface adaptable to the variety of small-screen devices, designing and implementing the most appropriate solution, and finally, user testing of the implemented solution.

Self Service Technology In Airports And The Customer Experience, Hannah Drennen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Justification:

This paper will help the airline industry identify how SST has influences customer behavior and reactions to SST while also understanding how airlines have been affected financially by the use of SST. The material discussed will help readers understand where the airline industry stood years ago, where the airline industry stands today and where it has the potential to stand 5 – 10 years down the road with the use of SST. The information will present both the positive and negative affects SST has on the airline industry and will assist in moving the industry forward in implanting SST …

Hacks/Hackers Survival Glossary, Priscilla Finley

Library Faculty Research

[Visited Oct'10] This "crowdsourced" glossary of Web content distribution technologies is intended for journalists writing for an audience of laypersons.

How Science Is Visually Portrayed In The Media: An Examination Of Science Times, Rachel Toyer, Larry Mullen

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

This poster will illustrate preliminary findings of how science images are portrayed in the New York Times, specifically, the Science Times section that is published every Tuesday and has grown in readership and popularity. Science images, five issues per year, have been coded over the past 34 years since the Science Times section first appeared in print. Our work follows trends that observe types of images, how many images are present, and whether the image is a photo or graphic of some sort.

Insights Into The Commons On Flickr, Jason Vaughan

Library Faculty Research

The Commons on Flickr, comprised of an international community of select libraries, museums, and archives, was a project initially launched in 2008 by the Library of Congress and Flickr. Primary goals of The Commons are to broaden exposure to rich cultural heritage photographs and to observe and participate in the communities of engagement and dialog enabled through The Commons. A survey was administered to all The Commons institutions during summer 2009, focusing on assessment of the overall satisfaction of current members and seeking additional details on participation goals, social interactions, staff time involvement, and general statistics. Members report a very …

Challenges And Opportunities Of Creating Library Services For The Singapore Campus, Lateka Grays

Library Faculty Research

When the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, opened its Singapore campus, it was critical that library services be provided and integrated into the curriculum. The University Libraries team overcame many challenges to create a libraries services infrastructure to support the students. Work began with then-hospitality liaison librarian Cory Tucker and has been carried on by current hospitality liaison librarian Lateka Grays. Our greatest strengths were the expertise of the liaisons and the support of the university.

We faced challenges to our mission of establishing library services in three key areas: access, communication, and technology. We developed a list of questions …

A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, And The Digital Revolution, Priscilla Finley

Library Faculty Research

Baron (Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) offers a breezy overview of the ways that technology is shaping reading and writing practices. This book will be valued in the future as a well-contextualized survey of issues that surface among writers in the current online landscape.

Wind Power In Nevada, Hamedah Dhalai

Brookings Mountain West Publications

This bibliography compiles scholarly information and new reports on the topic of wind power in Nevada. As a senior at UNLV majoring in both Economics and French, I began this project in June 2010 in consultation with William E. Brown, Jr., director of planning and communications at Brookings Mountain West. This research topic interests me greatly, and I believe that expanded research and commercial development of alternative energy, including wind power, is essential to the growth and development of Nevada. My service as a Student Ambassador in the College of Business, a position that allows me to represent UNLV to …

Risk Communication For Emerging Technologies: A Mini-Roadmap, Susanna Hornig Priest, Ted Greenhalgh, Elizabeth Young

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

This document summarizes the results of a workshop on risk communication that took place in January, 2009, involving participants from across North America but concentrated in the Western U.S. The workshop considered risk communication challenges and opportunities across a range of technologies and strategies. The discussions suggested that potential synergies exist across risk-related topics, as well as across disciplines, and highlighted the need for constructing opportunities for members of this research community to exchange ideas and results on an ongoing basis.

Contentdm @ Unlv: New Capabilities, New Opportunities, Cory K. Lampert

Library Faculty Presentations

Why digitize?

•Access

•Preservation (sort of…)

•Collaboration

•New forum for publishing

Users 2.0: Technology At Your Service, Darcy C. Del Bosque, Kimberly Chapman

Library Faculty Research

It is exciting, as practicing librarians, to find a singular voice that stands out as a strong influence on the profession. Anne Grodzins Lipow provided one such voice, inspiring us to evaluate our philosophy of patron service and helping us define our professional values. Lipow’s body of work encompasses many contemporary library issues, involving myriad aspects of customer service. Lipow addressed issues including patron-friendly catalogs and reference service in both traditional face-to-face and newer virtual settings, recognized the importance of training staff as part of continuous improvement in customer service, and emphasized the power of using technology to improve delivery …

International Symposium On Technology And Society Program, David M. Hassenzahl

International Symposium on Technology and Society

Conference program

International Symposium On Technology And Society Invitation, David M. Hassenzahl

International Symposium on Technology and Society

Conference invitation

International Symposium On Technology And Society Program +, David M. Hassenzahl

International Symposium on Technology and Society

Conference program, call for papers, & proposal

Indicators For The Evolution Of The Academic Architecture Library, Jeanne M. Brown

Library Faculty Research

The future is not really something one can predict, which does not, of course, keep us from speculating. In fact, the rapid advance of technology in the last ten years has made talking about the future something of a sport and resulted in "future" becoming code for "changes in technology." The future as determined by technology is not the major thrust of this article, although changes in technology are a given to just about anyone's future. Instead, the future is more broadly considered by looking at what is happening around us and speculating on the implications. This article attempts to …

Building Skills F2f – Using Chat Reference Techniques, Darcy C. Del Bosque, Kimberly Chapman

Library Faculty Research

The UTSA Library, like many organizations, has been experiencing a period of rapid growth and change. Even positive change can cause stress in departments, and one way to help employees deal with change, while still providing customer-oriented service, is to establish a regular forum for discussion that encourages departmental communication.

Training is an important aspect of employee development; however, the literature indicates that, in many organizations, training is often given little attention and relegated to the sidelines due to other demands on staff. With the hiring of new personnel, including a new Head of Reference and a Training Coordinator, the …